Vaccination records not getting through, parents complain

Parents of some of the hundreds, even thousands of Ottawa students facing suspensions starting Tuesday say they've submitted information to show their children have had vaccinations but health authorities won't acknowledge receiving it.

Parents of some of the hundreds, even thousands of Ottawa students facing suspensions starting Tuesday say they’ve submitted information to show their children have had vaccinations but health authorities won’t acknowledge receiving it.

“This will now be, I would say, the fifth time I’ve been asked to provide the health records for my son Kieran,” said Justin Cameron of Ottawa.

“They would ask for it and say they didn’t get it; I would have to send it again and send it again.”

He sent in Kieran’s records by email attachment and through an online form again this week, but still fears the 11-year-old will be barred from St. Augustine Catholic School as one of 2,000 students to receive suspension notices this week from Ottawa Public Health.

Kimberley Ferguson said she was told all four of her children would be suspended, even though she said her doctor’s office had contacted the health department to confirm their vaccinations were up to date.

“After half a day on the phone, they finally agreed that errors were made and that my kids were OK to stay in school,” she said in a comment on the Citizen’s web page. “A little frustrating, to say the least!”

While local health units collect vaccination records, the source of Cameron and Ferguson’s problems could be the clunky provincial database that holds the information. On Friday, the province announced plans to expand and streamline the tracking system, but the changes won’t come in time to help Ottawa Public Health update the records of as many as 50,000 schoolchildren.

The health department launched a blitz last summer to remind parents that children must have shots to attend school. The first suspension notices were put in the mail last week and another 3,000 were sent Thursday.

But parents say the campaign is poorly organized and overly rigid.

The health department gets family addresses from school boards, but Cameron said neither he nor his ex-wife heard from OPH, even though their children’s schools have their contact information. He only learned that Kieran faced suspension through an email from the school.

Renée Larocque delivers a vaccine during an Ottawa Public Health clinic in March.

Rachel Mainville-Dale was told the youngest of her three children would need to be immunized again, or undergo a blood test to prove he had immunity, because the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination he received in 2008 came a day before his first birthday.

“Everyone I speak to, from my family doctor to the Ottawa Public Health nurse, all agree that a mere day, more precisely four-hour, difference in the administration of the MMR vaccine makes no difference in its effectiveness,” said the Ottawa woman.

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Mainville-Dale said her doctor filled out a medical exemption certificate for her son, which has been accepted by OPH. But she believes Ontario should instruct public health officers to focus on families that have failed to submit any information.

“Spend your efforts and our tax dollars on those that actually pose a risk,” she said.

Marie Claude Turcotte, manager of vaccine-preventable diseases at OPH, said she couldn’t discuss individual cases but noted that it can take three days for updated records to appear in the provincial database. That could explain why some parents are getting notices after submitting information.

“We have staff entering the information — it doesn’t automatically upload to the system,” she said.

In other cases, parents may be unaware that children are still short one or two required shots.

Turcotte suggested there could be some leeway in cases in which a vaccination was given early. “Our medical officer of health is reviewing them on an individual basis and making some recommendations.”

Ontario once administered vaccinations in schools, with students lining up in hallways and cafeterias for their shots. It switched to giving vaccination in doctors’ offices, with the onus on parents to keep a record — the ubiquitous “yellow card” — and submit details to health departments.

In 2014, the province launched an electronic database called Panorama to help health units track school-age children, but critics pointed out that the system isn’t compatible with Ontario’s eHealth electronic records network.

On Friday, Health Minister Eric Hoskins said Ontario will seek ways to link the systems, and to give people access to a secure online site for access to their records.

As well, the province wants to step up immunizations through such measures as clinics in schools and community centres, and possibly allowing pharmacists, who already give flu shots, to give travel vaccinations.

Another measure would require parents seeking exemptions for their children on philosophical or religious grounds to attend an education session at their local health department.

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